The present invention relates to display systems such as are employed in aircraft cockpits and, more particularly, to an integrated display unit which provides a head-up display (HUD) and a color panel display in an aircraft cockpit.
Head-up displays are well-known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,204 (Withrington), assigned to a common assignee with the present application, discloses a head-up display system utilizing a holographic combiner.
One of the major system level problems with HUDs of any type is their necessary location in the prime area at the top center of the aircraft instrument panel. That area, which is the most visible portion of the instrument panel, is occupied by the HUD fold mirror and is therefore unavailable for other display purposes. As a result, the panel displays are mounted at the sides and below the HUD, and the size of the panel displays are accordingly limited. The up-front panel space in existing HUDs, is used only for shallow indicators, switches or flags, i.e., devices that would otherwise be mounted on less important areas of the instrument panel.
These limitations are detrimental to the goal of providing the pilot with highly visible display information needed to ensure mission success and pilot survivability. As a result, there exists a need to fit as much information as possible into the prime location of the front cockpit panel.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,095 (Wolfson et al.), assigned to a common assignee as the present application, describes a combined head-up and multisensor panel display system. This system utilizes a single cathode ray tube or other image generating device to provide both a head-up display and a multisensor panel display. The system includes a manual switch operated by the pilot to select either the head-up or the panel display operation; only one display is operable at any given instant. During highly stressed operational conditions, the switching operation can be a significant burden on the pilot, distracting him from other flight tasks.
It would therefore be an advance in the art to provide an integrated HUD and front panel color display apparatus which not only fulfills the need for a HUD, but also simultaneously provides a front panel display in the same area of the instrument panel.